A comprehensive international study involving over 130 researchers has proposed that bats likely originated in Europe around 65 million years ago, challenging previous assumptions that placed their origins in Africa, Asia, or North America. The research, recently published in the journal Nature, combined analysis of ancient bat fossils with genomic data from existing species to trace the early evolutionary history of bats.

According to the study, the earliest ancestors of modern bats emerged in Europe before dispersing into Africa. From there, bats expanded further into Asia, the Americas, and eventually Australia, suggesting a complex pattern of migration and diversification over millions of years.

Sarah Olson, one of the study’s authors and director of health research at the Wildlife Conservation Society, emphasized the remarkable nature of bats, describing them as “super amazing” creatures. The research provides new insights into the geographic and evolutionary origins of bats, which are the only mammals capable of sustained flight and play vital ecological roles.

This revised understanding of bat origins may have broader implications for studying mammalian evolution and biodiversity patterns following the mass extinction event that occurred around the time bats first appeared. The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that Europe was a significant center for early mammal diversification during the Paleocene epoch.